Psalms 139:1 - Meaning and Application

David here teaches a great truth, that the God we deal with knows us perfectly. All the movements and actions of both our inner life and our outward life are open before him.

He says this as a prayer to God. He is not just stating a fact, he is owning it before the Lord and giving him credit for it. Truths about God come alive when we pray them, and they often reach us more deeply that way than when we only debate them.

He also applies it to himself. He does not say, “You have known all things,” but, “You have known me.” That is what matters most for him to believe, and what will help him most to remember. We only use these truths well when we take them personally (Job 5:27).

So David says, “You have searched me and known me,” as fully as we know something we have carefully examined. David was a king, and the hearts of kings are hidden from their subjects (Proverbs 25:3), but they are not hidden from their King.

Then he goes into details: “You know me wherever I am and whatever I am doing, me and everything that belongs to me.” God knows his movements, whether he is sitting down to rest or standing up to work. He knows the mood of his heart, what he leans on for support, and what he is aiming at as his purpose.

God knows his thoughts too. Nothing is quicker or more hidden than thought. It is often unseen by other people, and even by ourselves, yet God understands it far off. He sees how one thought connects to another, even when we lose track of them ourselves. He understands our thoughts before we think them, and long after we have thought them and forgotten them. From heaven, he looks into the depths of the heart (Psalm 33:14).

God also knows David’s plans and actions. He “compasses” every path, or “sifts” it, which means he carefully separates what is good from what is bad. Just as sifting separates grain from chaff, God examines all our deeds. Every step we take is known to him, whether it is a right step or a wrong one (Psalm 17:3). He knows the rule we follow, the goal we pursue, and the company we keep.

He knows David in his quiet times too. He knows his lying down, when he is alone and thinking over the day before he sleeps. He knows what is in his heart when he goes to bed. He knows every word before it is spoken, whether it is foolish or good. Even words that are held back and never leave the tongue are open to him, because thoughts are words to God (Psalm 139:4).

David says God knows him in every part of his life. “You have beset me behind and before,” means God surrounds him on every side, so he cannot escape God’s eye. “You have laid your hand upon me” may suggest a doctor placing a hand on a patient to feel his pulse. God knows us with a close, careful knowledge. All his saints are in his hand.

David ends with wonder: “It is too wonderful for me; it is high.” God knows him more fully than he knows himself, and he cannot fully understand that. He cannot even take in all his own thoughts, much less judge himself as God judges him. This knowledge is real, but it is beyond our grasp. We know that God knows all things, but we cannot explain how he knows us so completely. We cannot search out the way God searches us, and we do not fully understand how we are known.